13/11/2024
https://www.facebook.com/100072499751661/posts/588551906904796/?mibextid=CDWPTG
🚗✨ IS "THE CHAUFFEUR" DURAN DURAN'S MOST ATMOSPHERIC TRACK? OR DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER FAVOURITE? ✨🚗
On this day in 1984, DURAN DURAN released the live album, ARENA (Nov 12, 1984)
Arena stands as a fascinating artefact of Duran Duran’s ascent to global superstardom. The live album, released by Parlophone, marked a pivotal moment in their career, capturing their explosive stage presence during a time when they dominated charts and teenage bedrooms alike. Despite being a live album, Arena isn’t merely a snapshot of concert performances—it’s a curated experience, polished in the studio to reflect the dazzling spectacle Duran Duran delivered onstage.
👇 WATCH THE VIDEO FOR 'THE CHAUFFEUR' IN THE COMMENTS BELOW 👇
For many fans, the album’s centrepiece is “The Wild Boys,” a newly recorded studio track produced by Nile Rodgers. Its pulsating rhythm and audacious energy propelled it to number two on both the UK and US charts, ensuring Arena wasn’t dismissed as just a contractual obligation. The album itself peaked at number four in the US, making it their highest-charting album there, and it went on to sell over two million copies worldwide.
Duran Duran’s shows in 1984 were visual feasts, with state-of-the-art light displays and on-screen visuals bringing their music videos to life. As Stephen Thomas Erlewine aptly noted, the band’s reliance on these visuals limited the musical variations between live and studio recordings, leading to live performances that were near replicas of the originals. This meticulous attention to consistency was mirrored in Arena, where the live tracks retain the gloss and precision of the band’s studio work. However, as Erlewine points out, Simon Le Bon’s occasionally winded vocals hint at the sheer physicality of performing such a high-energy set.
Critically, the album sparked mixed reactions. Smash Hits reviewer Dave Rimmer gave it a respectable 7 out of 10, albeit with a backhanded compliment about its lack of “any kind of live feeling.” Nevertheless, fans embraced the album for its ability to bottle the adrenaline of a Duran Duran concert. For all its polish, Arena remains a vibrant showcase of their early ’80s hits, featuring tracks like “Hungry Like the Wolf,” “Save a Prayer,” and “The Union of the Snake.”
Adding to its mystique, Arena was part of a multimedia onslaught. The conceptual concert film Arena (An Absurd Notion) blended live footage with surreal narrative elements, highlighting the band’s flair for drama and theatricality. For those seeking a purer experience, As the Lights Go Down, an edited version of the film focusing solely on the live performances, stripped away the excess. There was even an Arena-themed board game, underscoring the band’s cultural ubiquity.
While some critics dismissed the album as inconsequential in the band’s discography, others, like the team behind Brutally Honest Rock Album Reviews, celebrated its energy and tracklist. Their 2021 retrospective review hailed Arena as “a triumph of style,” praising its ability to encapsulate the Duran Duran phenomenon in its prime. The review rightly pointed out that the live versions on Arena breathe new life into the songs, with Le Bon’s vocals brimming with an emotive quality that can sometimes be masked by studio perfection.
Indeed, the tracklist is a well-curated journey through the band’s greatest hits of the era. From the urgent cry of “Please, please tell me now” in “Is There Something I Should Know?” to the haunting allure of “The Chauffeur,” the album underscores the strength of Duran Duran’s melodies. Even tracks like “Careless Memories” gain a rawer, more dynamic edge in their live renditions.
Musically, Arena highlights the band’s underrated musicianship. While their early reliance on sequencers and programmed elements might have raised doubts about their live abilities, these performances reveal a group of skilled instrumentalists. John Taylor’s propulsive bass lines and Nick Rhodes’ lush synthesiser textures anchor the band’s sound, while Andy Taylor’s guitar work injects a rock edge that cuts through the sheen. Roger Taylor’s drumming adds an urgent backbone, ensuring the live arrangements retain their punch.
The production, overseen by the band and additional engineers, does smooth out the rough edges, but it’s a compromise that pays off for a band so intrinsically tied to a sense of polish and glamour. It’s also worth noting that this was the final album to feature Duran Duran’s original five-piece line-up before the group splintered into side projects like Arcadia and The Power Station.
Forty years on, Arena occupies a unique place in Duran Duran’s discography. While it may not hold the critical cachet of Rio or the emotional resonance of The Wedding Album, it remains an exuberant celebration of a band at the height of their powers. Whether you approach it as a nostalgic throwback or an introduction to their early hits, Arena is a vivid reminder of why Duran Duran were once the quintessential pop stars of their generation.
THE CHAUFFEUR
"The Chauffeur," the final track on Duran Duran's Rio, stands as one of the band’s most enigmatic and celebrated compositions. Released on 10 May 1982, the song emerged from a poem written by Simon Le Bon during his early days auditioning for the band. This poetic genesis imbues the track with a hauntingly atmospheric quality, showcasing a side of Duran Duran far removed from their better-known chart-topping hits like "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Rio."
Musically, "The Chauffeur" is a daring experiment, blending the sensual with the avant-garde. Built on a skeletal electronic framework, it eschews conventional pop structures. Nick Rhodes’ icy synthesizers and Roger Taylor’s precise drum programming form a soundscape that feels both intimate and otherworldly. Le Bon’s languid vocal delivery, described by AllMusic’s Donald Guarisco as “lascivious,” drifts through the track like a siren call, perfectly complementing the surreal lyrics. Lines such as “The sun slips down bedding heavy behind / The front of your dress all shadowy lined” evoke a vivid, dreamlike atmosphere that leaves interpretation deliberately ambiguous.
Critics have praised the song for its artistry and emotional depth. Classic Pop magazine called it a “sinister synth-infused comedown,” while Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger highlighted its unconventional production elements, such as the glitching bass and an ethereal synth flute solo that transforms the song into what he termed an “art rock-styled march.” These unusual flourishes lend "The Chauffeur" a timeless quality, setting it apart from the glossy pop sheen of much of Rio.
At its heart, "The Chauffeur" is a mood piece, a darkly gothic romance underscored by its minimalist production. Stephen Erlewine of The A.V. Club ranked it as the sixth-best song in Duran Duran’s catalogue, and Guarisco lauded it as “one of the finest” in their repertoire. Its refusal to conform to the band’s more commercial tendencies has earned it a mythic status among fans, often cited as their best deep cut.
The song’s accompanying music video, directed by Ian Emes, only deepened its mystique. Inspired by the controversial 1974 film The Night Porter, the video is a provocative visual interpretation of the song's themes. It features two women—one chauffeured in a limousine and another dressing in lingerie—culminating in an evocative dance sequence performed by Perri Lister in an abandoned multi-storey car park. Its overtly erotic content led to its banning on MTV, ensuring its status as a cult artefact. The absence of the band in the video itself further highlights the song’s departure from their mainstream image, focusing instead on mood and storytelling.
The legacy of "The Chauffeur" extends far beyond its original release. Its hypnotic allure has inspired numerous cover versions, each reinterpreting its stark, electronic beauty. Notable renditions include Deftones’ hauntingly faithful version on their B-Sides & Rarities compilation and Warpaint’s ethereal take for the 2014 Duran Duran tribute album. James Murphy’s inclusion of the song on the Greenberg soundtrack introduced it to a new audience, reaffirming its enduring appeal.
What makes "The Chauffeur" so compelling is its dichotomy. While most of Rio bursts with vibrant energy, this track feels cloaked in shadow. Its noir-like tone and experimental sound place it closer to the influence of Japan, one of the band's inspirations, than the shiny New Romantic pop Duran Duran were known for. The song’s minimalist electronic instrumentation, eerie found sounds, and cryptic lyrics invite repeated listening, each pass revealing new layers of detail.
Even within Duran Duran’s discography, a treasure trove of glitzy hits and dancefloor anthems, "The Chauffeur" stands alone. It challenges listeners, defying expectations of what a band often perceived as stylish hitmakers could achieve. For those willing to delve deeper, it’s a rewarding experience—a haunting reminder that Duran Duran were always more than just purveyors of infectious choruses. With its stark electronic underpinnings and evocative imagery, "The Chauffeur" remains a track of rare sophistication, a stylish coda to one of the most celebrated albums of the 1980s.
